


That Extra Bit of Effort

by neokattz



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Roommates, also theres a cat, but the romance is the main focus, no beta we die like a fool, theres obviously friendships happenin between all the characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23686153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neokattz/pseuds/neokattz
Summary: After breaking up with Reinette, James is unsure of where he's going to be living next. But it turns out he's in luck when he finds Donna, Martha and Jack, who have an open room in the five-bedroom house they've all been renting together. Who's their fourth housemate though? It's Rose. Who, according to the others, has mostly kept to herself ever since she moved in a few months ago. After going through a rough situation with her ex-boyfriend, shes been quiet and cautious about who she lets in. But James is determined to show her he's safe.
Relationships: Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Comments: 19
Kudos: 135





	1. Chapter 1

After James and his now former girlfriend, Reinette, broke up and he was preparing to move out of their shared apartment, he never expected to find a new place to live so quickly. He was a graduate student who had gone back to university to start working towards another degree, and knew at his age he would feel absurd if he moved back into university housing. It also didn’t help that all his other friends and people in his program already had housemates and nowhere for him to stay. But then he saw it. In a bar near campus, on the night after he and Reinette had broken up, he was lucky enough to find a flyer advertising for a housemate.

Upon immediate further inspection he had learned the house was currently being occupied by a few other graduate students who were looking for someone to fill the fifth bedroom and help out with some of their more expensive bills. James knew they were all likely 5+ years younger than him, but it didn’t stop him from taking out his phone and calling up the number on the bottom of the flyer. 

James then felt as if his luck had further increased when he ended up on speakerphone talking to three out of the four residents of the house in what was almost a quasi-interview. And they all seemed to be liking what he was telling them. He didn’t know why they wouldn’t though. He was in university like them, had no financial issues beyond a bit of student debt (as was the same for them), was currently working a stable graduate assistant position at the university, wasn’t a smoker or heavy drinker, etcetera, etcetera. Eventually they all talked about wanting to meet him in person and since he was already out at the bar, James decided then to just invite them out. 

This was how he ended up surrounded by three out of four of his prospective new housemates. The oldest, who turned out to be the same age as him, was Donna Noble. She was only now in the middle of her first graduate program in an effort to move away from all the repetitive and boring temp jobs she had been working the past few years. Upon seeing her interact with her other housemates, James could immediately tell she was a snarky and quick-witted redhead who refused to put up with anyone’s bullshit. 

The second oldest was Jack Harkness, an American who had moved over here with some family. He was currently almost finished with his first Master’s degree and seemed like a terrible flirt. But James could hardly blame him; he knew if he looked like Jack, with the dark hair, blue eyes, and chiseled jaw, he would probably flirt with anything that could consent too. Then the youngest of the three was Martha Jones. She was a med student going for her first doctorate and worked at the hospital that was closest to campus. She was clearly smart and kind, but James could tell she, like Donna, was also not the type to put up with other people’s bullshit.

Each of his new housemates seemed friendly and like people he would easily be able to get along with them, but as the four got to know each other, and they made it clearer and clearer that they were very seriously considering letting him move-in, James couldn’t help but wonder about the fourth housemate. 

“So where’s your fourth then?” He asked. “The flyer mentioned there were four of you living in the house.”

Jack, Martha, and Donna all glanced at each other.

“That’d be Rose.” Martha spoke up first.

“Only moved in a few months ago after she left her boyfriend. She’s pretty quiet, keeps to herself in her room.” Donna continued. “When we told her we were gonna advertise for another housemate she didn’t say much. Kind of just implied she wouldn’t really want to deal with any of the interviewing and stuff.” 

“Yeah. I mean you don’t really have to worry about her, I guess. You never see her unless she’s off to work, getting something to eat, or with the cat.” 

James perked up at that, “Oh! You’ve got a cat, then?”

Martha laughed at him, “Yeah, hope you don’t mind.”

He grinned at them, “Oh, definitely not. I love animals. ‘Specially cats.” He paused and frowned for a moment, “Guess I don’t really mind about Rose either….”

“Great!” Donna yelled, looking as if she was just about ready to jump from her seat in joy. “You’re in.”

James’ eyebrows flew to his hairline, “Really?”

“Yup. You seem decent enough.” She teased, as both Martha and Jack smiled at him in agreement. “You can go ahead and move in anytime you’re ready. One of us is usually home during the day. Just use the number you called to text me and one of us will be there to let you in and everything.”

“Brilliant!” James really couldn’t believe how easy getting out of Reinette’s apartment was going to be, “So, would tomorrow be alright then? I’ve still got to pack, but I don’t exactly want to stay where I’m at now, if you know what I mean.”

Jack smirked at him, “Eager are we?”

James raised an eyebrow at the man, but before he could respond Donna had already smacked her friend on the chest and scribbled down their address on a piece of scrap paper, as she told James, that with tomorrow being a Saturday, it would be perfect.

After a bit, however, the trio gathered their things together and left the bar. But James was pretty happy with the fact that each of them turned to wave at him before they went out the door.

Much later that night, James was sneaking back into Reinette’s apartment in an effort to not have to see her before bed. The woman was a bit mad, and oftentimes refused to leave him alone despite any obvious discomfort on his part. Moving in together had really been the mistake that hurt their relationship. And so, the next morning, when he woke up early on the couch, he was happy to notice she had already left for work and hadn’t bothered him on her way out the door. Either way, he found himself rushing a bit with his packing, and by 3 p.m., he was shoving a couple suitcases and some old boxes into the back of his car.

Before pulling the address Donna had written down for him out of his wallet, he quickly typed out a text to her saying he was on his way over. And after a quick confirmation text back saying she and Jack (and Rose) were home, James was pulling away from his old apartment building, ready to get on.

The house, to James delight, wasn’t too far from campus, but seemed to be something the owner clearly only ever rented out to students. When he arrived on the doorstep with his duffel in hand, he was almost immediately greeted to the sight of Donna on the other side of the door, holding a key in his face.

“This is yours. Don’t lose it!” She told him. After taking the key and pushing it into his pocket, she pulled him inside, “C’mon, I’ll show you to your room and then I can give you a bit of a tour.”

At the entrance there was a hallway leading into what James assumed was the living room, 3 other doors, as well as a staircase near the front of the house. Donna immediately led him up the stairs where he found 4 other doors. 

“We’ve got 2 bedrooms downstairs and 3 up here with the bathroom. There’s a toilet downstairs off the kitchen, but the only shower in the house is up here. The two rooms downstairs are mine and Jack’s, so yours is up here.” She gestured to the room at the end of the hall, “That’s Martha’s room.” then to the one next to hers, “There’s Rose’s,” then to the one near the staircase, “The bathroom. And finally, here’s your room.” She told him as she opened the door across from Rose’s room.

It was a modest sized room, and like the flyer explained, there was already a small double bed in it, but in all honesty, James was unconcerned about the size of the room and he didn’t really need much space. Most of his non-paper work was done at the university and it wasn’t like he had any big items like a flat-screen.

He turned to Donna after taking in the room, “This is great.” He grinned at her, “Thanks again for letting me move in so quickly.”

“It’s no big deal. We needed someone to help with the bills anyway.” She nudged him, smiling, “Let’s go back downstairs so I can show you the rest of the house. Then I’ll leave you alone.”

Downstairs Donna showed him the kitchen and living room. Both of which looked as if they had been recently renovated so that there was more of an open floor plan between them. They were the rooms nearest to the front door and then down the hall, Donna pointed out her and Jack’s rooms respectively. When they peeked into the living room James noticed Jack on the couch with the telly turned to something mindless. Jack most definitely wasn’t paying attention to it. And so far James had not yet noticed the cat.

“So where’s the cat you’ve been talkin’ about? He scared of strangers?”

“Oh. No. He’s just picky about who he gets close with, but can be a sweetheart. Spends most his time with Rose though.”

“She’s only been here a few months and I’m pretty sure that cat is a bit in love with her.” Jack said from the couch. “Even though it was Donna and I who originally adopted him a couple years ago.”

Donna scoffed, “He just likes how calm she is compared to _some_ of us.” Jack turned to glare before looking back to the telly, “He’s just a plain old black and blue-eyed cat. Answers to ‘Nio.’ You’ll see him around eventually.”

After a moment of silence, Jack offered to help James get the rest of his stuff out of his car, but James declined him. He didn’t have much and it didn’t end up taking him too long to get it all into the house. Donna left the front door open for him, unconcerned about the cat getting out, and out of everything, the only issue he had was trying to drag his other suitcase up the stairs. He figured no one in the house appreciated hearing the thumps the wheels made against the front of the stairs.

As he unpacked his things, the evening turned quiet. He could hear the dull murmur of the television down stairs and every so often Donna and Jack’s voices. Around 7, Martha came home and the two chatted for a while before she went off to her room to change, and then invited him back downstairs for dinner. However, the entire time James was unpacking and then eating dinner on the couch with the others, he couldn’t stop thinking about how he was going to introduce himself to Rose.

Surely it was the polite thing to do right? She may keep to herself, but if someone new was moving into his house he would want them to at least introduce themselves….

But that night, after a day spent packing and then unpacking, James found himself falling into bed already half asleep. He had eventually seen the cat wandering around downstairs, but Nio had paid no attention to James after simply stopping to blink at him once and then move on. 

The next morning James woke to both the toilet and sink running and then the door across from him opening and closing again. Seemed after all his wondering that Rose was indeed a resident of this house, and she was awake too. Now looked to be as good a time as any to introduce himself.

James pulled himself out of bed, quickly used the loo and moved a few things around in his room before he put on different trousers and headed across the narrow hallway. It took a few moments after he knocked, but eventually she answered the door, and when she did, James found himself stupidly frozen in place as he stared at her.

Well, she was quite pretty wasn’t she? And not really what James was expecting at all. Rose herself was a blonde girl who looked as if she was in her early twenties. While she had a long scar on her forehead that trailed down to her left cheekbone, James also noticed her whiskey colored brown eyes and full lips. However, when she started shifting uncomfortably and her eyebrows pulled together in question, he realized he had been staring at her for an unfortunate amount of time.

“Oh! Sorry. Hi, I’m James. Just moved in.” He grinned at her, “Thought I’d be polite and come introduce myself.”

Her features softened as she was silent for a moment, “‘M Rose.” She introduced herself. Despite her clear London accent, her voice was soft and quiet.

James reached back to scratch at the back of his head, “Ah, yes. It’s nice to meet you. Sorry, for not introducing myself yesterday. Got caught up with the unpacking. You know how exhausting that is I’m sure-”

In the middle of his rambling he noticed Rose look down and watch as something moved across the carpet in the hall. Following her line of sight as his loud gob continued on, he noticed the cat creeping along into her room. Once it was inside, Rose looked up at him, her eyes a bit vacant.

“‘S nice to meet you.” She told him quietly, cutting him off, before she closed the door. It definitely wasn’t a slammed door in his face, but as James stood there blinking, he felt as if it had been.

“Alright.” He said to himself before going downstairs, features set in a frown.

Martha and Jack were both already down stairs when he entered the kitchen and started pulling down supplies for breakfast. They politely wished him a good morning.

“So….” James started, “I just met Rose.”

Jack snorted at him, “Yeah? And how many words did you get out of her?”

“Definitely less than ten.” He said after a moment.

“You’re lucky then. The first week she moved in she barely said five words to each of us.”

James stopped pouring his milk to turn and stare at Jack, “Is she always like that?”

Martha sighed, “I don’t think it’s that she’s rude. We’ve invited her to go places with us and she always politely declines. I think she’s just still trying to deal with what happened with her ex-boyfriend.”

James raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking for her to continue.

“I don’t know much about him, but when she first met Donna and I, the way she talked about him made it clear he wasn’t a good bloke.” Martha cringed before she went back to her food.

James’s eyebrows rose and he nodded with realization. Right. He was probably an abusive wanker and now Rose was either trying to guard herself, or was still trying to deal with everything emotionally. Or both. But he guessed it wasn’t necessarily any of his business. 

That didn’t stop him from wanting her to talk to him, though.

* * *

The next time James encountered Rose was a few days later. It was early and he had clearly fallen asleep on the couch after working all night in the living room, only to be awoken by a voice filtering through from the kitchen.

“Well, there you are, beautiful boy.” He heard. She appeared to be under the impression that she was the only one in the room at the moment.

Blinking his eyes open, James carefully shifted upwards on the couch and looked blurrily over the cushions towards the other side of the room. Rose was pulling a few things out of the fridge and setting them down as the cat jumped up onto the counter and waited on her patiently. And after pulling a few more things out, she moved to scratch Nio on the head.

“You didn’t come in my room last night, where were you?” She said in a soft but light voice that could only ever be meant for someone’s pet.

Suddenly James felt bad for spying on her and decided to make his presence known, “G’morning.” 

Rose froze before she slowly moved her eyes over to meet his. After a moment she offered her own short, but polite greeting as well, “Morning.”

The two looked at each other briefly before she went back to petting the cat, who looked very happy to be getting her attention. Nio, from James’s point of view, seemed to be using one of his paws to very enthusiastically hold Rose’s arm close to him as she scratched underneath his chin, and Rose seemed glad to comply to his demands. Eventually as well, he watched as the cat climbed up to stand on Rose’s shoulders while she made herself breakfast.

“How do you do that?” James blurted.

Rose's eyes flashed to his, but she remained silent.

“That cat loves you. How do you do that? All he does is sit and glare at me.”

The corners of Rose’s mouth quirked up slightly and she shook her head slightly. “He’s picky, I think.”

“Yeah, Donna mentioned something like that.” James pulled himself up off the couch and slowly made his way toward the counter, “You makin’ breakfast then?” He asked in an attempt to see if she would talk to him more. 

At this, however, she merely lifted her head in what he assumed was meant to be a nod. She was just as unwilling to talk with him as she had been the other morning. He watched her for a few moments before he began pulling out his own food for breakfast as well. After a while, he heard her put a few things away and pull something out of the silverware drawer before she started walking towards the stairs. He heard a soft “Got to get ready,” and a “Morning,” before Martha soon came to greet him in the kitchen.

* * *

After that, it seemed every few days James would encounter Rose in the morning before he had to head for campus, and every time he would cautiously try and get her to talk to him. He asked her several (hopefully noninvasive) questions, only half of which she actually answered. Eventually he was able to find out she wasn’t actually a university student like the rest of them, but was still spending most of her time working at the Henrik's department store. When he learned she took the bus to and from work he almost offered to start driving her, but before he could, he figured she probably wouldn’t be up for that sort of thing. Yet, he so easily found Rose to be one of the nicest and most interesting women he had ever been around. It was so difficult to put his finger on why, but every time she spoke to him he found himself engrossed in what she was saying to him. Even if it was only a two-worded answer to one of his daft questions.

Weeks after he moved in, one morning after she had chatted with him a bit more than normal, Martha and Donna walked into the kitchen and greeted them both cheerily while Rose made a swift exit. He had smiled at her and told her to have a good day at work, but the next time he looked up, Martha and Donna were both staring at him as if he had suddenly sprouted out a second body.

“What?” He asked, frowning at them both.

“Were you just talking to Rose?” Donna asked, “And…was she…talking to you back?” She continued, a bit incredulously.

James faltered a bit, “Y-yes?”

“How’d you get her to talk to you?”

“Well, if you were paying attention you would know that she really wasn’t. It’s more like I’m just talking _at_ her. Always been a bit of a rambler anyway.” He shrugged them off and moved to go sit down with his food.

“Yeah, because I’m sure the very feminine voice I just heard in here came from you too.”

He shrugged again, “I don’t know. It’s not like I’m trying to push anything. Been seein’ her in here every few mornings, so I thought I would try and talk to her. I’m just being polite, really.”

Donna scoffed, “Yeah, well clearly you’re doin’ somethin’ more than being polite, because we’ve been doing that for months, and here she is saying more to you than she’s really ever said to us!”

“Oi! Well, I’m sure she would love to talk to you too, but you lot don’t seem to make an effort anymore do you?” James couldn’t tell why he was suddenly acting in the defense of Rose, but no matter, because he knew he was absolutely in the right.

Out of all the little tidbits he had learned about Rose in the past few weeks, he was also able to notice a few of her tells as well. Things like how she would jump if someone walked up behind her, or would flinch when James pulled out a knife to chop the vegetables for his omelets. So it was hardly her fault if she was being cautious and waiting for everyone else in the house to prove themselves safe before she returned anything in kind.

Donna’s eyes went wide, “Wow.” She turned to Martha, “You know what, Martha, I think there’s somethin’ more going on. Put in effort ourselves, don’t we?” Martha smiled and nodded at her, “Seems like James is really tryin’ to put a lot more. I think he’s got a bit of a crush.” Her nose scrunched up as she turned back to look at him.

“What? That’s not fair! You can’t just turn this around on me like that.” 

“Oh! He didn’t even deny it!” Donna’s smile taunted him.

James suddenly found himself blushing. “That not- You can’t just-” He stopped when the girls started laughing at him. “Well. If you will excuse me ladies, I think I’m going to go finish my food in my room.” James glared at them as he gathered his plate and left.

Their teasing giggles followed him all the way out of the kitchen, but even as James made it back to his own room he still was unable to find the humor in Donna’s jokes. Especially considering there was absolutely no way he could have a crush on Rose. Sure she was pretty. But no matter what Donna and Martha thought, she still barely spoke to him for god’s sake! How were you even meant to base any sort of feelings on such little interaction? No. Rose was just a housemate.

And so, as he continued eating and getting ready for the day, James tried his best to put it out of his mind.

And he was able to. At least for a while.

* * *

The next time he and Rose came across each other, James had already been downstairs to eat and had just finished getting dressed. He was almost ready to leave for the university when there was a knock on his door. Automatically assuming it was probably Martha or even Jack, he flung the door open, and instead found Rose standing in the hall outside his room.

When he opened the door her wide eyes met his for a moment before she immediately looked to the carpet.

“Good morning, Rose. Did you need something?” James asked her gently.

“I…I missed my bus to work.” She frowned and hesitated for a moment. Then when James didn’t say anything in response she continued. “Donna…told me you have a car?”

“Oh. Oh! Yes. Do you need a ride to work? I can take you.” 

Rose gave him a barely there smile as she looked up and nodded at him.

“Sure! I was about to go anyway. Are you ready?”

When Rose nodded again, James grabbed his keys and directed her towards his car. Henrik's was definitely too far for Rose to walk on a good day, but James still couldn’t imagine being forced to ride that distance in a bus every day, twice a day. So when he pulled up in front of the shop, before Rose could get out, he immediately offered to pick her up later that day.

“What time do you get off? I have a break between classes and work, could take you home if you wanted.” He tried to be cautious with his offer, but he still wanted her to know he was more than willing to help.

Rose shook her head, “‘S okay.”

James took in a breath. “Yes. Well, either way, I don’t think you have my phone number so if you want it, you can just message anytime you need a ride?” He scratched at the back of his head, suddenly feeling awkward.

Rose’s eyes met his for a moment. 

“That’d be nice,” She told him as she handed her phone over so he could type in his number.

“You can ask anytime. I mean it.” 

Her barely there smile returned as she put her phone into her bag and got out of the car. “Thanks, James.” she offered in her normal soft tone.

And before the car door could close, James called out, “Be safe on the bus tonight!”

Rose froze on the sidewalk and stared at him for a moment when she heard this. After some time, she bit down on her bottom lip, waved at him, and was off towards the front of the store.

As James drove off back towards campus he found himself smiling. He didn’t exactly expect a request for a ride home that same day, but he hoped one day she would take him up on his offer.

* * *

It was then a little over a week later that something else happened. James had briefly seen Rose once or twice during the school/work week when she flitted around the kitchen for meals, cat rubbing between her legs like normal. But then that evening, Martha, Donna, Jack and him were planning on watching a movie they had all wanted to see for a while, and it just so happened Rose had asked him to pick her up from work as well.

So in the car on the way back to the house, James had taken a chance and invited Rose to watch the movie with them that evening. He explained that he and the others would love for her to join, but he still understood if it wasn’t really her thing. And when Rose told him she would think about it rather than flat out saying no, he became hopeful.

This was how he and 3 of his housemates ended up staring at Rose as she carefully walked into the living room that evening, hoodie on with the hood pulled up, and sat in one of the lone chairs around the ottoman. It was only after a few moments of them staring that James quickly tried to move things along in an effort to keep Rose from growing uncomfortable. 

“Alright! Shall we start the movie then!” He quickly jumped off the couch and shuffled in front of Jack who was messing with the DVD player. He fiddled with the buttons on the TV for a second before grabbing the remote and flopping himself back on the couch. And when he noticed the cat had made himself at home in Rose’s lap, James suddenly found himself unable to stop the flutter of words that were coming out of his mouth.

“We haven’t seen this movie yet, but I think you’ll still like it, Rose. It’s the new Harry Potter movie, and I don’t know about you guys, but I think these movies are getting better and better. I mean do you remember the first movie? Sure the actors were only 11 year olds, bu-”

He was cut off by someone clearing their throat. Turning, he saw Donna smirking at him with an eyebrow raised teasingly as Martha and Jack also stared. Both were clearly trying not to laugh at him.

James swallowed, “Right then. The movie.” Looking back at Rose, he noticed her lips pressed in a thin line as she looked at him and so James pressed play on the remote and tried his best to not talk while the movie played. Yet, every so often he would still find himself looking over to Rose. He had hoped to see her reactions to what was happening on the TV.

And every time he did, the cat would be lying there glaring at him.

* * *

After that evening James found himself consistently the subject of Martha, Donna, and even Jack’s teasing and jokes. Even if Jack was halfheartedly flirting with him at the same time. Most of it was all about him and his obvious crush on Rose, and no matter how much James tried to refute their claims, he always found himself blushing afterwards. 

Some good came out of it all, however, as it seemed Rose was slowly starting to talk more with the rest of their housemates. It wasn’t a drastic change, but James could easily see the difference between now and what Donna and Martha had described when he first moved in.

It was about 4 months after James had moved in that he realized he was now driving Rose to work on a semi-regular basis. Their rides to and from the store were mostly quiet, and some days Rose still preferred to take the bus, leaving him unsure if she thought she would annoy him by asking or if she actually enjoyed the bus ride. But either way he found himself happy with the progress he had made with her. While becoming friends with Martha, Donna, and Jack had seemed an easy effort, he didn’t exactly mind putting in more just to get to know Rose.

It was that Saturday morning that James found himself alone in the house while everyone else’s schedules had forced them to work, despite the fact that Saturdays weren’t normal days for Jack, Donna or Rose. It was an unusually rainy day, even for the U.K., and that morning it seemed to be coming down pretty hard. But he had only been alone for a few hours in the house when he heard the front door open and someone come in. Peeking around the doorway, he saw Rose standing in the front hallway.

“You okay?” He asked her.

She jumped slightly but nonetheless turned to look at him, “Uh, yeah. We’re not as busy for a Saturday because of the rain, so they sent a few of us home.” She stood awkwardly in front of the door as James approached her.

“Oh, brilliant.” He grinned at her, “Well, I mean not brilliant that you can’t work today, and that they sent you home, but I guess brilliant that you’re here and not forced to work on a day you don’t normally…work.” Oh god, he was rambling at her again, wasn’t he?

But Rose seemed to find it amusing. Her stance had relaxed and the corners of her mouth were turned up slightly.

“Ah, anyway. I’m glad I’m not alone in the house anymore, do you want some lunch or anything?”

At his offer, Rose nodded and smiled a little wider, “What were you planning on having?”

“Oh, I’m not sure. Guess we’ll just have to see what we have in the fridge.” He led them into the kitchen and the two stood in front of the fridge peering inside as if the best lunch ever would magically show itself if they concentrated hard enough. James hummed and looked down at her, “What’d you think?”

“Don’t have much right now do we? Could go for a simple cheesy toast, I guess?” She looked up at him like she was worried he dismiss her idea.

He smiled down at her, “That sounds brilliant, Rose Tyler.” He pulled the cheese out of the fridge before turning to look for the bread, “Besides, it’s perfect for a rainy day, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Rose hovered as the two set to their task of making their joined meal, and as many times as the two had interacted, James didn’t expect her to be particularly talkative today, yet after a few minutes she surprised him, “James?” 

“...Rose?”

“Don’t think you’ve ever told me what you’re in uni for?”

Oh. _Oh._ She was trying to make conversation with him. James realized this was the first time she had ever really asked him anything about his personal life. 

“Well.... I’m actually in for my second Master’s since I already have a PhD in Astrophysics.” Rose raised her eyebrows at this. “In a couple years I’ll be going for my second one in Chemistry. It’s more for fun really.” He shrugged. “Wanted something else to do while I think about what kind of job I’m going to go for in those fields.” 

“So, you’re… like a doctor then?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah I guess. Not really a proper doctor with patients and everything, but I do have a Doctorate, yes.” James turned to stare at her.

Rose smirked at him for a split second, before going back to what she was doing, “Well, Doctor, you might wanna be careful. You look like you’re ‘bout to burn your hand.”

James looked down and quickly pulled his hand away from the stove burner, before he looked back to her. He could feel his face growing warmer, “Uh. Right. Thanks.” 

Eventually the two finished making their food and James found himself not particularly surprised when Rose moved to sit down and eat with him. He smiled at her nonetheless. But the two had continued to chat throughout most the rest of the afternoon, Rose talking and asking him more questions than she ever really had before. Every once in a while, however, Rose would call him “Doctor” and so James consistently had to keep his brain from freezing up when she did. 

When Jack was eventually the first one home from work, Rose stayed seated in her chair but fell silent as she watched the two men interact. Jack seemed a bit surprised Rose was sitting out in the living room with him, but James was grateful he didn’t do anything to unintentionally make her visibly uncomfortable. In fact, James noticed once or twice a soft smile on her face when either Jack or James would start joking with the other. That evening Rose even briefly joined the four of them for dinner after he and Donna had to make a rushed trip to the store (in which they most definitely almost ended up soaked). In any case, everything seemed to be coming up roses (pun absolutely intended).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! sorry it took me a little longer to get this chapter posted. as I'm sure everyone knows, life is a little weird at the moment, and this chapter was a little harder than expected to get finished. But I hope you all enjoy!

The only problem was that it wasn’t until a few weeks later when James realized he had been lying to himself about his feelings for Rose. He had driven her to and from work every single day this week, but that morning she told him she was just going to take the bus home later when she got off work. And like usual, she smiled at him when he told her to be safe on the ride home. 

So, when Rose came back that evening, James was definitely not expecting her to immediately call out to him. He had been in his bedroom with the door open, but after hearing her quickly enter the house and yell up to him, he was promptly down the stairs, asking her what was going on and if she was okay

She was still standing in the front hallway, clearly trying to catch her breath as she gestured towards the front door, “There was a guy- On the bus, and he-” a knock at the front door cut her off. Her eyebrows pulled together in the middle and her eyes went wide as she stared up at him.

James instantly knew what had happened. Moving towards the door he swung it open and came face to face with a man who had shaggy hair, was shorter than he was, and looked the sort to follow women home from the bus stop on a regular basis.

“Oh, hi. I just wanted to see if Rose mad-” He paused when Rose carefully came up to stand next James.

James glared at him, “She’s fine. Thanks.” In a last minute effort to make the man go away, James quickly threw his arm over Rose’s shoulders and pulled her a bit closer.

The man’s eyes widened, “Right. I’ll just be going now.”

“That’d be good, yes.” And before the man could say anything else James slammed the front door in his face. 

Glancing down, he found Rose had placed one hand against his side, and was biting on the thumbnail of the other. She still appeared as if she was nervous. 

“Are you okay?” He asked.

When she nodded, but didn’t look up at him, James realized what he had done, “Oh! Sorry.” He quickly retracted his arm and stepped back.

“‘S okay. Thanks.” She paused for a moment before asking if he would be okay with always driving her to and from work from now on. There was a hint of anxiety left over in her voice, and when James readily agreed they fell into an awkward silence.

She gave him another absentminded nod, “I’m just gonna….” she trailed off as she gestured and then left to go upstairs.

* * *

But it wasn’t just that situation which had tripped him up. 

After that James had berated himself several times for grabbing her so quickly. The two had barely touched each other beyond the basic contact you got from living in a house with someone, but when Rose was essentially being stalked home, James had so easily slung his arm around her, not thinking about how she would feel about it.

Then, a few days later when James was once again lying on the couch, late at night, while trying to do work, he noticed Rose had come downstairs with the cat in tow. Pulling himself up, he saw her wander into the kitchen before he called out to her.

“Rose!” He probably looked right manic, hair sticking up worse than usual, eyes wide and probably a bit bloodshot, but at that point he found he didn’t care. He hadn’t seen another human being in hours.

This time he was pleased to note Rose didn’t startle when she heard her name, and instead she turned on the spot and tilted her head when she noticed him, “James? Why’re you still up?”

“Should ask you the same question.”

Rose walked closer and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, I’m doing work. Dying a bit on the inside. I’m fine.” He nodded frantically at her, “Now, tell me why you’re up.” He reached out to grab for her hand, but in the last second thought better of himself.

“Jus’ couldn’t sleep.” She paused as she looked over all his work spread out on the ottoman, “Are you really dying? Because that’d be disappointing.” She smiled playfully at him before continuing, “Is it the homework? Are you tellin’ me you can’t handle a bit of homework, Doctor?”

He groaned, “I hate it! It’s the most boring thing in the universe and I despise doing it.” He flopped back onto the couch purely for the dramatic effect.

Rose let out a bit of a laugh at his expense. When she did James thought he really would love to hear that sound more often. Before he could say anything else, however, Rose walked around the side of the couch, and started looking in the mess for the TV remote.

“Maybe you just need a bit of a break, then, yeah? How about we watch a bit of late night telly?” As James moved his legs off the couch and sat up, Rose sat down next to him, eyebrows pulled up in question.

He couldn’t help but smile at her, “Sounds brilliant.”

It wasn’t until several hours later that James jolted awake again, him and Rose having fallen asleep in the middle of some absurd show he had never seen on daytime telly before. Taking in his surroundings he noticed that he and Rose had gravitated towards the middle of the couch, and she was now currently asleep against his shoulder.

Unfortunately, James couldn’t help but hesitate as he stared at her, unsure of what to do in this moment. 

“Rose.” He said, softly.

When she didn’t respond or move away from him, James reached for her shoulder and gently shook her, “Rose….”

Eventually, she let out a faint groan and moved away from James’s shoulder. Taking his opportunity to move away and make sure Rose wasn’t uncomfortable with his position next to her, he quickly stood up from the couch.

“We fell asleep watching telly.” He told her as she squinted up at him.

He moved to shut off the television and push all of his papers into a neat pile to carry back to his room. When he turned back, she was silently smiling at him. James nodded towards the hall, “C’mon. We should go upstairs so we can actually get some sleep.”

Rose continued to remain quiet and rather than getting up off the couch on her own, she simply held out her hand to him in a silent gesture asking for his help.

James hesitated once again, eyes flickering between Rose’s face and hand, but when Rose started flapping her hand around impatiently, he immediately took it and pulled her up off of the couch. In response, she only smiled brighter at him and squeezed his hand before he slowly dragged her out into the hall and towards the stairs.

Rose seemed unwilling to let go of his hand, and James absolutely had no issues with this. They both made it up the stairs, hands in each other’s grasps, and didn’t let go until they reached the section of the upstairs hall in between their two bedroom doors. 

Briefly looking down to the floor, James noticed the cat had followed them up the stairs and was now sitting at Rose’s door, waiting on her. He let go of Rose’s hand, gave her a soft wish for sweet dreams, and headed for bed. Yet, as he closed his bedroom door behind him, James didn’t notice Rose standing in the hall, her eyes following him as he went.

For all his wishfulness, however, James barely got any sleep that night. Unable to shut off his brain, he was continually stuck in a loop of thinking about Rose and all his interactions with her over the past couple weeks. He had been living in the house for a little over 5 months now, and with break approaching at university he was unsure of how the dynamics in the house would start changing, if they changed at all.

But with Rose, it was undeniable that things had been steadily changing between them ever since he had initiated that first conversation with her in the kitchen. James had refused over and over again to believe he had any feelings for Rose beyond friendship, no matter what Donna said. But after how angry he had been the other day at the man who followed Rose home from the bus stop, and the automatic ease and warmth he had felt tonight watching telly and holding her hand, James knew he had been lying to himself. 

It had been immediately clear to him after he had moved in that Rose was someone he had wanted to befriend, and over time that grew into him wanting to show her he was someone she was safe with. Yet the thought of having romantic feelings for Rose was making him feel…panicky. 

Normally, when it came to his own feelings, James was pretty decent at being able to tell when he wanted something beyond friendship. That bit had been so easy when it had come to Reinette. So, the fact that he had only just now let himself admit to this was foreboding to say the least. It also didn’t help that Rose had now opened herself to him (more than she probably expected to) with the intention of just being friends with him.

He was only ever meant to be Rose’s friend and housemate. Especially considering there was no way she would want anything with him beyond friendship. James knew very little about Rose’s previous relationships, but he did know the one that had led her here was likely reason enough for her to avoid him at all costs should she find out he had romantic feelings for her.

And there was also no way James could lose Rose’s friendship at this point. Her and Donna, Martha, and Jack were all too important to him now, and he really couldn’t let something as stupid as this ruin all of that

As he went on throughout the rest of the night, these thoughts looping around in his head, he came to the realization that he had no idea what he was meant to do now.

* * *

The next morning, James found himself in the kitchen making a cuppa while half asleep. All of his panicked thoughts and contemplation about the situation he had found himself in refused to let him rest and so, early into the morning, he had thrown his covers off and practically ran down the stairs.

He was so beyond aware of anything besides the tea cabinet and the kettle, he was unable to catch the sound of footsteps making their way towards the kitchen. 

“Morning!” A voice called out.

James startled. Looking over and saw Donna wandering in. Perhaps it wasn’t as early as he thought it was.

“Ah. Good morning.” James offered flatly. Before he could turn back to the kettle he noticed Donna raise an eyebrow at him in question.

“Um. You know, Spaceman. The kettle usually works best if you have it…turned on.” She leaned over and flipped the kettle on then moved on to start fixing her own breakfast.

James could only blink at the kettle, “Right. Thanks….” Frowning he reached over and grabbed his mug out of the sink.

“You okay there, mate?” 

Looking towards Donna, James was silent for a long minute. He opened his mouth to tell her about his trouble sleeping through the night, but before he could, another voice wandered into the kitchen. 

“Ah! Look. Two of my favorite people.” Jack said as he entered. He looked to Donna, “Mornin’ Gorgeous.” He then took one look at James and stopped, “Well. Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

Donna snorted, “Yeah. I was thinkin’ the same thing.”

“You have a rough night?” Jack smirked at him.

“I’m fine. I just didn’t sleep very well.”

“When I walked in he had forgotten to turn on the kettle. Was just staring at it.” Grabbing a spoon out of the silverware drawer, Donna took her food and walked around the counter to sit down. She made a face at Jack as she passed him.

Jack hummed in response and shook his head as he opened the fridge.

Realizing the kettle had boiled, James went about fixing his cuppa, (thankfully he didn’t spill boiling water everywhere) before he cautiously moved to go sit next to Donna. She sat there and stared at him.

He rolled his eyes, “Donna, I’m fine. Stop staring.”

She shook her head, “Yeah. Not believing that for a moment.”

“Not believing what?” Martha asked as she walked into the kitchen.

James groaned and let his forehead fall against the table.

“Oi! No need to be rude.” 

Lifting his head to rest his chin on the table James frowned, “No. I’m sorry, Martha. I’m just tired. And Donna keeps staring at me.”

“Think you’re a bit beyond tired. Closer to out of your damn mind.”

Martha chuckled and as her and Jack went about making their own food and Donna continued eating, James sat there with his chin on the table and stared blankly. He knew there was really nothing he could say about why he was so tired this morning without getting teased by the others. Again. So he elected to try and ignore it. If he had no idea what he was meant to do anyway, then maybe ignoring it all together would work. 

_ Hah. That’s likely.  _ He thought to himself.

Martha looked at him, concern evident in her eyes, as she and Jack also sat down at the table, “You’re a bit out of it, huh? Exactly how much sleep did you get last night?”

“Oh. Maybe 8 minutes. And none of it consecutively.” He sighed.

Jack covered his mouth in a clear attempt to not laugh at him.

“Oh, boy….” He heard Martha mumble to herself.

It was in that moment that the last of his housemates (thank god), Rose, walked into the kitchen, usual morning greeting falling from her lips with ease. James automatically perked up as he watched her, and when the others politely wished her a good morning as well he couldn’t help but join in. Albeit, a bit too enthusiastically.

“You sleep okay last night?” He asked her without a second thought.

“Hmm? Yeah. I guess.” Rose peered around the fridge door to look at him. “I’m guessing you not so much, though.”

James scratched at the back of his head and chuckled awkwardly, “Yeah. You’d be guessing right.”

Rose smiled at him as she shook her head. 

“He’s gone a bit barmy, Rose. Wouldn’t have gotten his tea made if I hadn’t turned the kettle on for him.” Donna told her, eliciting a short laugh.

“Oi! No need to tell everyone. I know how to turn a kettle on. I’m just tired.”

“You keep saying that, ‘nd I’m gonna start thinkin’ you’re stuck on repeat.” Donna rolled her eyes at him.

James glared at her in return. 

Eventually, Rose collected her plate off the counter and walked towards where they were all sitting around the table. But she hesitated. One of the biggest flaws with owning a four person dining table was that it meant all five of them were never able to sit at it at the same time. It was why group dinners often happened in the living room instead, and why they really needed to buy at least another chair. James, ever aware when Rose was in the room, immediately recognized that she wanted to sit and found himself practically leaping from his chair.

“Here, Rose. You can sit here. Don’t need it anyway.” Pulling out the chair for her, James grabbed for his tea and went over to stand by the counters, missing Rose’s grateful and sweet smile in his direction, but not missing the way Martha turned to snicker at him.

The group of four around the table chatted as they carried on with eating their respective meals. All the while, James did his best to keep up with the conversation. He found himself mostly tooning in during the few times when Rose would speak up, but overall he found he was lost on what they were talking about. His lack of sleep had continued to make him feel weary and he elected to force himself to take a bit of a nap later on. 

After some time, his four friends finished their food and continued to talk idly, but per usual, Rose was the first to leave the room. James watched as she quickly rinsed her dishes and put them to dry before she started walking towards the stairs, mentioning she would likely be in her room for the rest of the day. 

Against his best intentions, James called out that he would see her later and visibly deflated when he heard the creak of the steps indicating her exit. When he turned away from the counter he was presented with his other three housemates staring at him.

“What is wrong with you?” Martha asked him.

He sighed. “I have…made a mistake.”

“Yeah? What else is new?” Donna chimed in.

James rolled his eyes and slid into the vacant chair around the table, “I’m serious, Donna.”

“Yeah? What’d you do? I know you’re tired-”

“So he tells us.” Martha interrupts.

“-But you have been off all morning. What’s wrong with you?”

He frowns and stares down at the table before pushing his hands into his hair and pulling slightly, “‘M pretty ‘ve got feelings for Rose.” He muttered. Then cringed. God he sounded like a bloody teenager….

At this, both Martha and Donna burst out laughing.

“Oh, we could have told you that, cupcake.” Donna giggled.

“Hey! No. I told you I was serious. This isn’t just some crush, Donna.” 

Martha paused in her laughter, “So what. You think you’re in love with her then?”

James froze.  _ Was _ he in love with her? No. No…. Nah, it was just some regular ole infatuation…. Right?  _ As if that’s any better. _ He thought to himself. “Oh god. Oh, this is bad.”

“What? Why?”

“I never even told Reinette I loved her.”

“You never told Reinette you loved her and yet you bloody lived together?” Donna started, “Well. I can tell where that relationship went wrong.” She snorted.

James sat up and glared at her, “It’s also bad because there’s about a million reasons why Rose would absolutely never want to be with me. You’ve seen how idiotic I act around her. ‘M pretty useless, aren’t I? Sat here pining after my bloody gorgeous housema-”

“Well, yeah she’s gorgeous, James, but I think you’re missing something here.” Jack interrupted him. “I’m pretty sure she likes you just about as much as you like her.”

James, Martha, and Donna turned to stare at Jack.

“The hell are you talking about?” James frowned at him.

Jack let out a long sigh, “You’re an idiot.”

“Well, yeah. I’m sure I am, but would you at least tell me why?” 

“I really can’t be the only one that notices how out of all of us Rose has become the closest with you.” Jack raised an eyebrow at him, “She lets you drive her to work every day, she almost never sticks around unless you’re here too, she has that little pet name for you, and don’t think I didn’t hear you two out here giggling last night at the TV.” He listed.

“Oh my god, is that why you didn’t get any sleep last night?” Martha interjected.

“That’s beside the point, and of zero relevance to this conversation.”

Martha glared at him.

Jack shook his head at him, “James, she looks at you with the same puppy dog look in her eyes that you have when you look at her.”

James’s eyebrows pulled together in frustration, but before he could respond Martha interjected once again, “You know… he’s not wrong. She lived here for months before you came along and out of all of us, you were the one who got her to start coming out of her room more.” 

“Well, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe you. Especially considering all of that, everything you listed before, that’s just because we’re friends. In no way does it indicate she has any sort of romantic… inclinations towards me.” He turned to look at his three friends, finding the same knowing look on all of their faces, “Now, if you don’t mind. I think I’m gonna spend the rest of the day in my room too.”

And with that he made his exit. 

* * *

It was after that when James, no matter how much sleep he got, or how controlling he tried to be of his own actions when it came to Rose, found he was still jumpy and generally lacked a bit of his normal control around her. His realization had practically ruined things for him in that department. He had hoped she would ignore it and not confront him about his off demeanor, but of course it was a few days later when Rose came to ask about what was going on.

After that morning at breakfast, James had taken to staying in his room more than normal, unwilling to really be around the rest of his housemates for the time being. But of course after almost a week of keeping this up there came a knock at his door. He had yet to leave this room at all that day, and honestly he didn’t care who it was, but when he opened the door he realized he hadn’t actually been expecting to find Rose standing on the other side.

“Rose!” His eyes went wide, “Hello! Did you need anything? Did they change around your shift? Because I can get changed real quick and driv-”

“James.” Rose interrupted the oncoming ramble.

James closed his mouth with an audible click of his teeth.

“Are you feeling okay?” She looked up at him, concern obvious in her gaze. “Because… I don’t know. You’ve been acting a little off lately.”

James hesitated, “Uh... yeah, Rose. I’m fine. I’ve just been tired” He was being short with her. He knew it.

Rose deflated, “Oh.” Casting her eyes downward she let out a breath, “Well I hope you can start getting more sleep then….”

Sure he wasn’t going to offer anything else up, he watched as she turned away, but when she did, James immediately wanted to reach out to her. Instead he kept his arms firmly by his sides and spoke up, “Wait. Rose. No. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”

She stopped and slowly turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“It’s getting to be the end of the semester, so I’m not getting a lot of sleep. Got a lot on my mind with exams coming up, I guess.” He half-lied.

At this she turned back around fully and stepped closer, looking at him from under her eyelashes, “You’re practically a genius, James, you know you’re gonna do amazing on your exams. The only person I know with a doctorate, you are.” She teased, smiling at him. Then after a moment, “You know you can talk to me if you need to, yeah?”

James instantly relaxed, “Yeah… I know.” He told her softly. 

The moment was swiftly interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling. Rose giggled. 

“Well. I’d also probably feel better if I actually ate today….”

Rose lifted her chin, “Maybe you should drive us to get some chips, then.” She glanced away from him, putting on the appearance of fake nonchalance, acting as if she wouldn’t care whether or not he said yes. But James knew better than that.

He looked at her for a moment, eyebrow raised, before he broke out into a wide grin, “Sounds brilliant, Rose Tyler.”

She turned back to give him the biggest smile he had probably ever seen on her face. He felt his stomach flip in response, but he didn’t care, because he definitely wanted to see that smile more.

After briefly changing, and a car ride to what apparently used to be one of Rose’s favorite places to get chips, the two were sitting across from each other with a large basket of chips in between them. James had insisted he didn’t mind paying for two baskets, but when Rose ordered the single basket, then turned to tell him half the fun of getting chips with friends was sharing and getting to argue over how much vinegar was acceptable (which they did), he was unable to refuse her.

The two chatted about James’s classes and some things that had happened at Rose’s job recently as they absentmindedly ate. For James everything was going wonderfully, and after the last few days of hiding himself from the rest of the house he was feeling much better and less concerned about potentially doing anything he had been recently trying to avoid. But when Rose got up to quickly use the loo, the last person James wanted to see slid herself into the spot where Rose had just been sitting.

The content expression on James’s face instantly morphed into a frown, “What are you doing here, Reinette?”

She gave him the same easy but taunting smile she always did when she didn’t think she was doing anything wrong, “Oh, you know. Getting chips.” She nodded towards the basket in front of him.

“Really? I thought you hated greasy foods? In fact, I don’t think you’ve ever eaten a chip in your life, Reinette.”

Reinette frowned at him, “Fine. I saw you from the window and wanted to come in and talk to you.”

“About what?” Refusing to meet her eye, James glanced down at the chips as he poked around his side of the basket.

“Oh, I’m sure you know what about.”

_ Dear god, was she really doing this now? _ “No. I don’t.”

“James, my love. I’ve been thinking a lot over the past few months and I’m very sure it was a mistake for us to s-”

“Excuse me.” A small voice called from next to the table. Rose had come back from the loo, a grimace was set into her features.

Without looking away from James, Reinette flapped a hand at her dismissively, “No, thank you, we don’t need anything.”

James’s eyes went wide, but Rose seemed to take in stride.

“You’re in my seat.” She persisted, her voice coming out much tighter than before.

Reinette, in an attempt to remain ever poised, slowly turned to look at Rose. She smiled politely, “Yes, well. James and I are trying to have a conversation, so you’ll just have to wait.”

James was about to speak up and tell Reinette off when Rose surprised him by immediately sliding into the space next to him at the table and scooting as close as possible.

“Too bad.” She said, looping her arm with his. “Because you can’t seem to take a hint. He clearly doesn’t want you here.”

He looked down at Rose for a moment before he looked back to Reinette at a loss for what he should do, but when Reinette raised an eyebrow and her mouth dropped open in offense, he could tell she was about to say something he really didn’t want to hear.

“James-” She started.

“No, Reinette.” He interjected, “Please leave. I don’t need to sit here and listen to you disrespect Rose.”

Reinette’s mouth closed audibly and she turned to glare at them both, “Fine.” Quickly gathering herself together, she slid out of the seat and stormed from the chippy.

Rose snorted, “Was that your ex-girlfriend?”

James cringed, “Yeah. Guess it’s a bit obvious I made a mistake there, huh?”

In response, Rose simply hummed and leaned over to rest her head against James’s shoulder. When she squeezed his arm, he glanced down and noticed the way she was blankly staring forward as she bit down on her bottom lip. Suddenly, anything James could have possibly said in this moment flew from his mind, so instead, what came out of his mouth was the same thing that had been on his mind repeatedly for the last few days (weeks really) as he kept to himself.

“Rose….”

She looked up at him and their eyes met for an almost nonexistent moment before she was pulling away, “Sorry.” She hastily offered as she slid out of the space next to him and went back to where she had been sitting before.

James opened and closed his mouth a few times, but ultimately, he said nothing.

He and Rose continued eating their now cold chips, and on the ride home, decidedly, nothing was said about Reinette or what happened at the chippy. James didn’t exactly want to have to discuss Reinette, but the silence was discomforting. When they arrived back at the house, he expected Rose to simply go back up to her room without a word, but upon discovering everyone else was out, she ended up quietly following him into the living room.

He stuffed himself into the corner of the couch and instead of Rose joining him, she plopped down into her normal chair. Quickly looking for a distraction, James noticed the cat sauntering into the room. Well. At least it was a distraction for Rose. But then Nio jumped up onto the back of the couch and hesitantly walked closer to him. When he was just within arms reach, he sat down and stared at James. 

“Okay, are you actually going to let me pet you now?” James raised an eyebrow as he cautiously reached out his hand, giving the cat enough time to decide whether or not he was in the mood to deal with him.

James found himself surprised when Nio actually brushed his face against his hand a few times, before he pulled away in order to jump down from the couch towards the ottoman and move to sit in Rose’s lap instead.

“Oh. I see how it is.” James told the cat, half-offended.

Rose chuckled, “I told you he’s picky.”

“Yeah, he’s made that very clear.”

Rose smiled at him for a moment, before she looked away and her face slowly started to fall, “James can I ask you something?”

“Sure. Of course.”

“Can I ask you… about Reinette.”

James’s body seized slightly as his eyes flew to hers. He had no idea how to respond. Why would Rose want to know about Reinette?

Rose’s eyes went wide, “You don’t have to if it's gonna make you uncomfortable. It’s okay. I’m sorry for bringing her up.”

James swallowed hard and deflated slightly. Rose was his friend, she was probably curious like Donna and Martha had been a while ago. He could talk about this with her without being weird. Right?

He sighed, “It’s okay. You can ask. I don’t mind.” 

Rose placed the cat on the floor and moved over so she could sit with him on the couch instead, “Um…. What happened between you two?”

“You mean beyond the obvious?” When Rose simply raised her eyebrows at him in response, he continued, “I guess our personalities just didn’t really… work well together? I mean obviously I thought she was great at first. She’s quite intelligent, very well versed in a lot of different subjects, can be really charming as well, but the longer we were together, the more I realized those were all just surface level qualities.

“After we moved in together she seemed to have no sense of boundaries, and no matter how many times I asked for space, she would consistently violate it, and I was not comfortable with that or any of her excuses. I learned just how conceited and rude she could be when it was no longer necessary for her to act polite. And she also had a tendency to treat people she didn’t think were important like shite. You got a bit of an experience with that today…. I really didn’t expect her to be there. We haven’t talked in months, I’m sorry you had to deal with that.”

He paused for a moment, and then, “But yeah, we broke up and I moved in here.” He rushed out, unsure of what else to say, “I’m horrible at talking about this stuff, that’s probably not what you wanted.”

“No. That was fine.” She moved closer to him on the couch, “I’m sorry she was like that….”

James turned to meet her eyes. They were soft and held all of the sympathy he greedily wished he had received after he and Reinette first separated, “You know. You’re the only one who’s been sympathetic with me. Well… besides Donna, Martha, and Jack, of course. But when I told some of my mates at the university, they all thought I was an idiot for breaking up with the gorgeous French blonde.”

Rose immediately frowned, “Well, that’s not fair of them. Don’t really seem like proper friends now, do they?”

James chuckled, suddenly thrilled at the thought of Rose digging into his university mates for being arseholes, “It’s alright. It shouldn’t have even been a big deal anyway. It’s not like I was in love with her or anything.”

“You didn’t love her and you still lived with her? Well, that’s most definitely where things went wrong, then.” She joked.

“Oh, yes. That’s what Donna said too. But don’t worry. I definitely realized that eventually.”

Rose laughed at him, “You’re an idiot.” 

James joined in on her laughter, knowing she wasn’t trying to be malicious, “I know.” And the two giggled together for a few moments.

But of course James, being who he was, couldn’t just let the moment go, now could he? Before he could think he was suddenly blurting out his own questions, “What about you? You have any awful exes?”

As the question left his mouth, James instantly knew he had made a mistake. Rose’s laughter had stopped and her face had fallen as she suddenly became pale. James’s eyes were immediately drawn to the scar on her forehead and before he knew it he found himself standing from the couch.

“Oh god. I’m sorry. Please forget I asked. That was unbelievably stupid of me.” He was about to leave the room when Rose’s hand shot out and grabbed his arm.

“James.” She said. She wasn’t looking at him, but he could tell her face was still ashen.

“Rose.”

“I… I haven’t talked about it to anyone.”

James quickly shook his head, “It’s okay. You don’t have to talk about it. Like I said, just forget I asked.”

Her hand slid down to grip his as she turned to look at him, “But I think it might…help. And I…I do…want to tell you.”

James squeezed her hand and carefully moved to sit on the ottoman across from her, “If that’s what you would like, yes.”

Rose nodded, eyes still glued to his. He could see the overwhelming amount of discomfort she was experiencing from simply remembering whatever it was that had happened in them. But James didn’t want to push her away by insisting she not tell him if this is what she wanted to do.

“I, um…. You already know I never finished my A-Levels, but the reason I never got to finish was because of him. We met when I was 16 and I was so completely enamored by him and everything he was when I was in school that by the time I got close to finishing my A-Levels I had stopped caring about all of it. He had seemed so charming and mature and so when it seemed like he liked me too and wanted me to drop out and move in with him I didn’t think about it twice. It didn’t matter what my mum and best friends had said.” She let out a breath and looked away, “Was in a band too, and little dumb 16 year old me thought it was the best thing ever.”

“You’re not dumb.” James whispered to her.

At this, Rose momentarily met his eyes before she pulled him closer in an attempt to hold his hand between both of her own. And when she did, James found himself automatically moving to wrap his other hand around hers.

“I lived with him for quite a while…but it was a little over a year ago that I realized just how stuck I had been. I was the one who had been paying all of the bills while he did nothing, and he never laid a hand on me, but he had made it clear several times that he wasn’t far from going there next. I had basically been trapped for years. And it took me a while to realize that I hadn’t just lost contact with my mum and all of my friends, but that he was intentionally trying to keep me away from them. Their numbers were suddenly gone from my phone, and if I went anywhere he didn’t know about I would come home to him pissed. 

“It was all just the words and anger at first. The accusations that I was cheating on him, him constantly telling me I was worthless and stupid and good for nothing but-” her breath hitched, “but a fuck. I don’t know how many times he used the insult ‘useless chav’ on me.”

James was ready to tell her she didn’t have to keep going if she didn’t want to, but when Rose squeezed his hand and kept on, he remained silent. He squeezed her hand back and shuffled closer.

“When I finally told ‘im I was leaving he got even more pissed. Slapped me and told me he wouldn’t let me. That I was his whether I liked it or not. But I did. I left eventually.” She paused and took a deep anticipatory breath, “A few weeks later I found out he had been cheating on me for months. I came home from work and he was in bed with her, and when I started yelling and telling him I was leaving again he didn’t really do anything. Thought I was lying. But then I started packing, and he was suddenly there threatening me with a knife.

“He got me pinned, which was how I got this,” She gestured to the scar on her forehead, “and a few others…. Had to get stitches, but I was lucky. One of the neighbors called the cops when they came home and heard all the screaming. But he didn’t get charged with anything beyond minor assault…. He was only put in a cell for a few nights, but it gave me enough time to get my stuff and leave. Didn’t feel right going back to my mum after everything. I already hadn’t seen her in over a year and before that I had lied to her and refused to believe anything she said about him…. I’ve only talked to her a few times since I moved in here. I think I cried when I met Donna by accident and found out she had an open room….” 

They were silent for a moment, but James eventually sucked in a deep breath, “What was his name, Rose?”

She looked up at him, eyes full of tears ready to spill over, “Jimmy Stone.” She told him.

And when they did start spilling over, James solemnly released her hands in favor of cautiously reaching out to cup her face. He brushed the streaks of tears away with his thumbs, “Rose.”

She shook her head as much as she could with it in place between his hands, “No. You don’t have to say you’re sorry.” She pushed forward and pulled him into a hug, “I know you are. But just having you listen to me and not judge me was enough.” She told him, pushing her nose into the crook of his neck as she squeezed him tighter.

James wrapped his arms around Rose and pulled her even closer. He couldn’t stand the fact that there was a man stupid enough out there to honestly believe that Rose wasn’t worth every single moment, conversation, and smile she was willing to give. But he was so very glad she had finally found herself living somewhere better. 

“I had felt so worthless for so long afterward, so when you moved in and started trying to get to know me, I really didn’t understand why. But I’m glad you did.”

“Well. You’re worth getting to know, Rose Tyler.”

* * *

After they pulled away, James and Rose had stayed out in the living room together until the others started coming home. Rose didn’t want to sit alone in her room and had asked James to stay with her out on the couch for a while. They sat together, shoulder to shoulder, hands clasped on James’s thigh as they watched a movie they both had already seen before.

But when Donna came home, and James got up to greet her and talk about dinner, he came back to the living room to find Rose sat in her usual chair, cat back in her lap. She wouldn’t meet his eyes for the rest of the night, and promptly left to go back to her room after Martha and Jack had come home and the group had eaten dinner together.

He had tried not to be hurt or offended by the fact that she had very subtly moved away from him after everything they had discussed previously. But he knew she likely didn’t mean for him to take any sort of offense, and that after talking about such a shitty situation, she probably needed a bit of space. So he of course wanted to give it to her.

James couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed, however, as he didn’t really get to talk to Rose anymore that evening, and for the next couple of weeks afterward they didn’t see much of each other beyond their comfortably quiet car trips to and from Henrik’s. James was becoming busier and busier at the university with end of the year projects and exams approaching. Not only was he stuck doing a lot of studying and revising, but he was also given more hours in the GA office as professors needed more and more assistance the closer the end of the semester came.

Yet, after a few weeks of taking his work to the library rather than spreading it all out at home, he had stopped going, given the sheer amount of students who now flooded the campus library in order to study. And so, he once again found himself on the couch, late at night, his work spread out in front of him. His glasses were also on for once, instead of his contacts, in the hopes he’d be able to stay awake longer.

He didn’t expect to see any late night visits from any of his housemates as Donna, Martha, and Jack were also dealing with end of the year exams. He had offered to share the space with them, but they all seemed to insist that they did better studying elsewhere. But nonetheless, the cat had come in to see what he was doing a couple times, and sometime after one in the morning he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Thinking it could have been Martha, down to fill up her cup with water, he didn’t really bother looking up when whoever it was padded into the kitchen behind him.

So when he felt a gentle but unexpected hand squeeze his shoulder, he jerked in surprise. 

“James?”

Turning around on the couch, he noticed Rose standing there, head tilted as she stared at him, “Sorry. Didn’t realize it was you.”

She gave him a soft smile and moved to sit down on the couch, “It’s okay. Are you still trying to revise?”

James hummed in response, “I could probably stop. But I really want to get this finished and out of the way so I can deal with all my other end of semester work.”

She nodded and slumped further into the couch. She looked as if she was about to say something, but when she met his eyes, she smiled again, simply looking at him for a moment, “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”

James frowned, then after a thought, remembered, “Oh! Yeah. Only when I don’t want to wear my contacts. They hurt my eyes when I wear them for too long, so I needed a bit of change for my revising.”

Rose looked away shyly, “You should wear them more often. They look good on you.”

James’s eyebrows flew to his hairline, “Really?”

She met his eyes briefly, a small smirk on her face, and nodded at him.

James slumped down and moved over so he was eye level with Rose, “Maybe I will, then.”

Rose let out a short laugh before she leaned over to put her head on James’s shoulder, “You should take a break, yeah? It’s past 1 now and who knows how long you’ve been out here.”

James looked over to the clock under the television, “Oh, probably about 5 hours…. Was out here before I had dinner, too, though, so definitely longer.”

Rose snickered at him, “You’re barmy. Do you really have that much work to do?”

“Mmm, perhaps not. Just wanna make sure I’m doing everything I can, I guess.”

Rose lifted her head from his shoulder in order to gaze at him, “You’re beyond smart. I told you, you’re gonna do amazing.”

He couldn’t help himself. He was suddenly grinning at her, “You think so?”

Rose hummed out a confirmation, “Therefore. You, James Smith, are going to take a break. No more of this tonight.” She sat up and started shuffling all his papers into a smaller pile in order to push them further away from James.

He knew he would likely have to sort them all out later, but right now he didn’t care. He finally had some time to sit and talk with Rose again, and he wasn’t going to waste it the same way he wasted all their car rides together. When she moved back on the couch, she leaned over and unexpectedly plucked his glasses off his face. Careful to not poke his eyes out in her quest to force him to relax, he watched, only a bit blurrily, as she held them up in order to peer through them.

“Huh, woulda thought you were blinder or something.”

James scoffed, “No. I only need them to read, really.”

Rose laughed. Jokingly, she moved to slide the glasses onto her face, before she turned to smirk at him, playfully. 

James raised his eyebrows, eyes growing slightly wider and mouth falling open, as all his thoughts flew from his mind. He was suddenly very aware he was gaping at his housemate (his housemate who he had very strong feelings for) who had so casually put his glasses on, who was now looking at him with soft eyes and her usual smile and maybe something more. And maybe it was just because he was tired and very much besotted and beyond head over heels for her, but he couldn’t help but lean forward and press his lips against hers in a gentle kiss.

He felt her release a quick breath in surprise against his face, but as he brought a hand up to cup her cheek, tilting his head so he could press closer, she pushed away from the couch and brought one hand up to grip his arm and the other to rest her palm against his chest.

James didn’t dare push it any further by trying to open his lips against hers, but the two still stayed pressed together for a long moment as Rose’s hand slowly bunched together in the fabric of his shirt. So when she was the first to pull away, and James came back to an unreadable expression on her face, everything came crashing down on him.

“Shit.” He swore, his eyes going wide as the ramifications of what he had just done fully came to him, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” His face fell as he tried to move off of the couch so he was no longer invading her space.

But Rose pushed her hand firmly against his chest in an attempt to get James to stay where he was. Her eyebrows were pulled together in confusion, “Wait. James. What are you talking about?”

“It wasn’t right for me to just push myself on you like that. I’m so sorry, Rose. I violated your space without knowing what you wanted and-”

“Yeah, but what about what I want?” She interrupted him, “What if that’s what I wanted to?”

James couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She wanted him to kiss her? There was no way he was hearing this correctly. “But I-”

“I know. But it’s okay. Because I trust you. So please trust me when I say it’s something I want too.” She shuffled closer, her eyebrows pulled up in the middle as she pleaded with him not to run.

“I- You trust me?”

Rose nodded, “Yes. You think you’ve violated my space and pushed me too far, but I promise you haven’t. I know you don’t have any… I know now that you’re not gonna do what you know I’m afraid of….”

When James didn’t respond she continued, “James, I dealt with Jimmy for so long, that it really wasn’t all that difficult for me to tell what kind of guy you are. I was nervous at first. Of course I would be, but you’ve always been kind to me. You’ve never given me a reason to believe you were only being nice because you just wanted a shag. You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you.” 

James paused, considering for a moment, before he remembered something else, “But what about when that arsehole followed you home from the bus stop?” 

Rose bit down on her lower lip, “I just wasn’t expecting you to do that, I guess.” She looked away, her cheeks reddening, “Didn’t really mind it, though.”

“Really?”

She hummed out a confirmation, “And I wouldn’t mind if you….” She swallowed heavily, “If you wanted to kiss me again.”

James found himself unable to look away from Rose. He had spent so much time just wanting to get to know her, that he had never expected to develop feelings for her or for her to ever reciprocate them. Pulling himself up, he reached out and carefully pulled his glasses off of Rose’s face before he leaned forward. He met her eyes, looking for another reason to pull away. Some sign that she was lying and didn’t actually want this.

“Really?” He whispered.

Her hand had bunched up the fabric of his shirt again as she pulled him closer, “Yeah.” 

“Quite right.” His last words came out as a whisper against her lips right before James and Rose were pressed together once again.

He felt himself practically sigh in relief as he wrapped an arm around her back and leaned against the cushions of the couch, bringing her with him. She squeaked in surprise as she landed half on top of him, and this time when he made the choice to open his lips against hers, she accepted his request and pressed herself impossibly closer.

It was then that James knew, if at all possible, he wanted to keep kissing Rose Tyler forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bonus points to anyone who caught my The Good Place reference. 
> 
> Let me know what you thought! (and if there are any glaring typos or anything just let me know)


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